Drumbeat Stroll
by CorinaJBlack
Summary: Elphaba angsts herself through the library on a rainy Saturday afternoon.
1. Chapter 1: Introvert

**Disclaimer: **Duh.

**Note: **I haven't written in a while. Just for fun.

**Edit: **I got a nice comment about overusing a word and I have corrected it. Thanks :)

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They were like different flavors of candy. Or, perhaps different songs, or different cultures altogether, each with its own distinct drumbeat.

Elphaba perused the drafty old library's long, wooden shelves, amusing herself with these blissful musings about the books. Strolling between the aisles of books gave her a sense of calm, as though time moved slower in the library and her life was put on hold, just like each book was suspended in its own section of reality, frozen in time. She ran her long hand absently, affectionately along the spines of the dusty hardcover books, feeling the different textures of fabric and paper skim her fingertips. She wasn't sure that any of these books had been touched in years and felt a certain duty to attend to them. The air in the library was still and peaceful, if a bit musky.

Life at Shiz was far from miserable. It was even pleasant, in a dysfunctional sort of way. She had Galinda at her side, and most of the former and potential bullies stayed well out of her way. There was the occasional incident, but nothing a good venting with her roommate and a retreat to the library couldn't fix. This year, Elphaba had recently realized, was shaping up to be the best year yet of her life.

It was strange, feeling almost peaceful. Elphaba was all too used to the turbulent, guilt-ridden days of living with Frex and Nessa, getting taunted both in and out of doors, feeling so uncertain about her powers.

But now, it was all coming clear, and the lack of anxiety in Elphaba's life left a strange absent feeling. She didn't know what to put in that empty space. She tried feeding it with books, ravenous as always for stories and texts. She tried smoking Winkian weed and drinking the fancy wine Galinda smuggled from her mansion in the Uplands. She was well and truly a normal college student... minus the sex, she guessed... but still there was something missing.

Like most things that nagged at her, Elphaba shrugged the feeling away. You had to in a household such as her own, in which somebody was always blaming her for some little thing. She could never please Frex, could she? And Nessa wasn't much help... No, it was better to make yourself impenetrable, un-phase-able.

Elphaba couldn't explain why, with this philosophy, she was given to such powerful outbreaks of emotion and anger (in general, not as of late). Perhaps there was too much pent up inside. She was strong, and worse: stubborn.

Suddenly she wanted to see Galinda. She wanted her hair teasingly tossed and an indignant comment made about the state of her wardrobe. Elphaba's hand dropped off of the shelf of books, and off she trod back home.


	2. Chapter 2: Extrovert

It was like being greeted by an overfed purple rooster.

As Elphaba opened the door, she was intercepted by a shrill, _"Don't come in!" _the source of which was a writhing lump of purples feathers and mesh on the far side of the room. The purple monster flailed at the foot of Galinda's bed.

"It's me..." Elphaba told the rooster uncertainly, taking a step into the room.

"Oh, El_phie_!" whined the muffled soprano voice. The lump seemed to deflate. "Help me out, here!"

With a silent chuckle, Elphaba moved over to her entangled roommate and pulled the mess of fabric back over her head. Galinda let out a gasping, "_Whew!_" and put a hand to her middle to make sure everything was intact. Underneath, she wore a silvery slip that had probably cost more than all the books on Elphaba's shelves.

"Trying something new, are we?" Elphaba tossed the heap of feathers onto Galinda's bed.

"I'm _trying_," she groaned, "It's just not _working. _I paid top dollar for that frock and waited _two weeks_ for it to arrive, and look where it's gotten me." She scowled and put a hand to the aggravated skin on her arm, where the mesh had rubbed against it.

"What a plight!" Elphaba enthused. "Galinda Upland, you are an inspiration to us all."

Galinda cast her a punishing look. "Don't be snide, Thropp. It doesn't suit you."

Elphaba chortled and rolled onto her own bed. "Stupid thing!" said Galinda, tossing the rejected ensemble into a pathetic heap in the far corner of the room, in the shadow of the underused bookshelf. Elphie closed her eyes and listened to the grumbling noises of Galinda getting herself dressed again.

Each girl was lost to her own thoughts for a long stretch. That was the nice thing about her friendship with Galinda, Elphaba had decided. There was no rushing. It was like they existed in the eye of a great storm, perfectly in tune with one another. However talkative she could be, Galinda never forced conversation, and they could go for hours in companionable silence.

Elphaba liked silence. She shut her eyes, listening to the rhythmic beating of the old ceiling fan above. The ceiling was surprisingly high, with a dark web of wooden rafters that seemed to come to a shallow point above. But that area never truly caught the light of their bedside lamps, so Elphaba couldn't say for sure.

She had often enjoyed tormenting Galinda with speculations about the rat and cockroach families that surely made happy homes in the dark recesses of their ceiling. Elphaba spun tales about giant spiderwebs with egg sacks containing a million million spider babies, hanging precariously in the immediate dark space above Galinda's bed.

That kind of talk earned her a right slap.

Elphaba entertained herself with these memories, an unconscious smile - the shadow of a laugh gone by - playing on her face. The happy memories were placating, and before she knew it, Elphaba had fallen into a soft mid-afternoon doze. Galinda snuck out, momentarily afraid that Elphaba - a light sleeper - would be disturbed by the click of her platform heels. But, as she pulled the door closed, Galinda was assuaged by the sound of her roommate's deep, gentle snore.


End file.
